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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2015.10.004 Life on Earth relies on photosynthesis, and the ongoing depletion of fossil carbon fuels has renewed interest in phototrophic light-energy conversion processes as a blueprint for the conversion of atmospheric CO2 into various organic compounds. Light-harvesting systems have evolved in…

As early as the 1950s, researchers were looking at algae for methane gas production. The algae was grown on rooftops of Massachusetts Institute Technology (MIT). Drawings and illustrations of open pond raceways on the…

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The same lipid that helps algae swim toward the light also appears to enable one type of brain cell to keep cerebrospinal fluid moving, researchers report. The lipid is ceramide, long known to help keep skin smooth,…

Members of Graham’s team (pictured at right) optimize growth of macroalgae at UW–Madison’s Biotron Laboratory. Pictured at left are strands of freshwater macroalgae from Madison’s Lake Mendota. This alga is a feedstock…

The Technical University of Munich, Germany, has opened a unique algae cultivation centre at its Ludwig Bölkow Campus to develop new processes for producing biokerosene and renewable chemical products. The new…

Algal blooms are the biggest threat to natural and artificial aquifers. Formed as a result of warm temperatures, and consequently the development of large populations of cyanobacteria, algal blooms are often toxic,…

Seaweed, if systematically cultured and explored, could emerge as a vital agricultural product for coastal people, be consumed as dishes and used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries and contribute to the national…

It’s official, our oceans are experiencing a coral bleaching event on a global scale. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), countless simultaneous reef bleaching incidents culminated in to one massive…

Though it can be hard to imagine that cold, barren-looking glaciers are conducive to life, glaciers are actually teeming with organisms. Glacier surfaces are filled with cylindrical holes called cyroconite holes, in which melt water accumulates and micro-algae and cyanobacteria thrive. Now,…